Cocaine, both powder and crack, is the primary illicit substance most often identified
in treatment admissions to publicly funded facilities in the Atlanta MSA. According
to data from the Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Mental Health,
Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases (MHDDAD), the number of cocaine-related
treatment admissions in the Atlanta MSA in state fiscal year (SFY)14
2007 and SFY2008 (the latest period for which such data are available) was greater
than the number of treatment admissions for heroin, marijuana, methamphetamine,
or other illicit substances.15
(See Table 5).

Source: Georgia Department of Human Resources, Division of Mental
Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases.*Figures
in this table represent the number of consumers who had at least one admission during
the SFY in which the primary "substance problem at admission" was the substance
shown. A consumer is counted only once per calendar year per primary substance problem,
regardless of the number of admissions for that problem. Note that a consumer may
be counted in more than one category per SFY, because the consumer may have had
separate admissions for different primary substances. This table includes only those
admissions to services funded or operated by the State of Georgia Department of
Human Resources, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive
Diseases and does not include admissions to services of any other providers, public
or private.
**THC (delta-9-tetrahydrocannnabinol).

Ice methamphetamine abuse levels are stable throughout the region; the drug is
typically of high purity. Public health authorities report that most methamphetamine
abusers are Caucasians and Hispanics and that female abusers outnumbered male abusers
in the Atlanta MSA among individuals seeking treatment for the abuse of amphetamines,
which include methamphetamine.

CPDs and MDMA are considerable threats to the Atlanta HIDTA region. The most
widely available and commonly abused CPDs are hydrocodone, oxycodone, and diazepam.
Law enforcement officials report that CPD abuse is a growing problem among Caucasian
young adults. MDMA available in the Atlanta HIDTA region is generally abused in
combination with other substances, including alcohol, cocaine, and marijuana. MDMA
is most commonly available in Buckhead (northern Atlanta) and Midtown and is used
mainly by Caucasian youths; however, MDMA abuse has increased among African Americans
in the region. The abuse and availability of MDMA tablets combined with other dangerous
substances are increasing in the Atlanta HIDTA region; adulterated MDMA tablets
have also been seized throughout Georgia. Law enforcement and intelligence reporting
reveals that MDMA tablets available in the region are often adulterated with substances
such as methamphetamine, MDA (3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine), LSD (lysergic acid
diethylamide), BZP (N-benzylpiperazine), TFMPP (1-(3-trifluoromethylphenyl)piperazine),
ketamine, and caffeine. MDMA adulterated with methamphetamine, known in the Atlanta
HIDTA region as double stacks, is increasingly available and abused, particularly
among African Americans. The DEA Atlanta Field Division reports that adulterated
MDMA is usually distributed by Canada-based Asian DTOs as a means to open new methamphetamine
markets. According to the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Canada-based DTOs
are increasingly producing adulterated MDMA tablets, and in some cases these tablets
do not contain any MDMA but, rather, are a combination of other substances, particularly
methamphetamine because it is easier and less expensive to produce than MDMA.

Heroin abuse is limited throughout most of the Atlanta HIDTA region. Heroin abuse
is largely confined to an established population of long-term Caucasian heroin abusers
in the Atlanta area. However, law enforcement officers in North Carolina report
the increasing availability and abuse of Mexican heroin in Atlanta HIDTA counties
in North Carolina; the drug is distributed by Mexican traffickers and African American
distributors.

Mexican traffickers use the Atlanta area as a bulk cash consolidation center,
storing large sums of cash in stash houses before moving bulk cash shipments to
the Southwest Border area and Mexico in commercial or private vehicles. For example,
federal and local law enforcement officials seized $7.65 million in U.S. currency
from a single stash house located in Gwinnett County, Georgia, in May 2008. Moreover,
seizure data indicate that traffickers are moving large amounts of bulk cash through
Atlanta en route to the Southwest Border area and Mexico. According to the U.S.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Blue Lightening Operations Center (BLOC),
law enforcement officers in the southeastern United States seized more than $29
million in bulk cash that was being transported from Atlanta to the Southwest Border
area in 2008.16

Traffickers in the region use money services businesses, structured bank deposits,
purchases of real estate and luxury items, and cash-intensive businesses to launder
drug proceeds; they also engage in "asset substitution."17
Members of Mexican distribution cells use wire transfers and money remitters to
send drug proceeds to their sources of supply in Mexico. Traffickers in the region
also use front companies, cash-intensive businesses, and real estate to launder
drug proceeds.

Footnotes

14.
The state fiscal year (SFY) runs from July through June.15.
Treatment Episode Data Set (TEDS) data are not available for the state of Georgia
after 2006 because of a revision in the methodology in which treatment admissions
are counted in Georgia.16.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Blue Lightening Operations Center
(BLOC) provides the Gulf Coast HIDTA with 24-hour phone communications and the El
Paso Intelligence Center (EPIC) with real-time information from various databases.
17.
Asset substitution involves a third party, often a facilitator or criminal associate,
who purchases items such as used automobiles or boats in the United States and then
ships the vehicles to another country for resale. Drug traffickers purchase the
vehicles from the third party in cash, usually at inflated prices; the purchaser's
identity is often concealed. The traffickers then resell the vehicles to unwitting
buyers, generally within the same community.